For My Kids When I Am Gone

For everyday workin on the Illinois river

Get a half day off with pay

Old tow boat pickin up barges

On a long got summer day

https://youtu.be/WYXMnBMvtDw?si=2i5tpisbdX3LoveF

Great F**kin tune

Have you, YES you. Ever wondered how the power grid operates under stress, such as a heat wave when everyone blasts AC?

Well, there’s a few things they do when they can predict. Increase outage at plants not at capacity, load shedding, and some other shifty tactics. But I want to focus on peaker plants, and how even with renewables they will always be important.

Peaker plants are typically natural gas plants. A plant that will only fire up when needed. Cold nights and hot days. Perhaps during the Super Bowl. A natural gas plants works by burning natural gas through turbines. They are amazing because they can almost instantly fire up and supply energy to the grid. Yes, they are dirty. But dependable and strong. They dont run constantly, only during peak.

I actually visited a peaker plants south of Salt Lake City Utah near Mona. The plant, although dirty, had a really cool design. The Co2 from the plant was piped into a giant green house next door. This green house was full of tomatoes and the occasional dump of Co2 from the plant greatly increased tomato yields. Cool huh? Ive always driven the point around that natural gas will be needed in unison of renewable green energies. On a sunny day, a solar plant will churn out loads of power. Power than can help relieve the grid certainly. But until battery technology advances, peaks during the night still depend on natural gas. And a gas peaker plant has inertia. A turbine spins. Much like a turbine from a coal or nuclear plant. You have a physical spinning object that can hum at a steady 60HZ

The grid likes 60HZ. Even a drop to 59hz would cause a total blackout. So inertia is very important. It’s controlled and steady. Solar creates energy through a chemical reaction and although it’s clean and the source is free, there’s no physical movement. Hydro electric turbines and geo thermal turbines can be steady but the source isnt readily available, such as in a desert and other land locked areas. Wind turbines are a good option as they have tons of inertia but the wind isnt steady. Sometimes it’s faster or slower and turbines use a gear box to spin at the correct RPM to match a 60HZ grid, it’s not incredibly dependable. Especially during a peak where energy is needed instantly.

A natural gas peaker plant is needed and I love them. They are kind of the power grids NOS tank. Like a muscle car in the fast and furious, one flip of a switch and you get a vroooooooom.

I guess that leads me into a good analogy. Coal plants are like diesel trucks. Dirty and loud and old but they are work horses. A Tesla is like solar and wind. Clean and new but not super dependable for long road trips. Another form of energy such as nuclear or a larger gas plant is a like a typical combustible car. Steady. A gas peaker plant is the NOS in that car. One flip and you get the jolt you need. But NOS doesn’t work in a tesla. But we need teslas. But don’t kick the mustang to the curb yet. They are fun.

And help grow tomatoes?